First moves in a Wellington emergency
Close the toby
Tiaki Wai describes the toby as the valve between the council main and your own pipe, generally at the boundary, under a black, blue or metal cover. Lift the cover and turn the handle until the water stops.
Turn off a leaking cylinder
A cylinder that's leaking should also be switched off at the switchboard, if you can get there without standing in water.
Gas smell? Walk away, then ring
Powerco asks you to move away and ring 0800 111 848 from a safe place. Don't use switches or phones near the smell, and don't hunt for the leak. If someone is hurt or there's immediate danger, ring 111.
Damaged power lines
Wellington Electricity's 24-hour emergency line is 0800 248 148. Keep well clear and treat every line as live.
Then tell us the job
Fill in the urgent form with what happened, what's now off, and whether anything is still running.
What's different about urgent work in Wellington
Street leaks are triaged
Tiaki Wai fixes the biggest leaks first, often underground ones losing 40 litres or more a minute. Small ones, such as a leaking toby, can wait. Report them anyway on 0800 TIAKI WAI (842 549).
After a major earthquake
Tiaki Wai warns some suburbs could go without piped water for 100 days or longer, and community water stations may not open until about day eight. Its ask is 20 litres per person per day for 7 days, which comes to 560 litres for a family of four.
Don't flush after a big shake
WREMO says that even if the taps still run, the wastewater pipes are likely broken, so a flush can end up in the garden. Use an emergency toilet until you're told the sewer works.
Floods and blocked drains
WREMO calls floods the region's most frequent natural hazard. Streets flood when rain outruns the stormwater pipes or drains are blocked, so clear leaves from outside drains before heavy rain, and treat floodwater as carrying sewage.
Your side or Tiaki Wai's?
Bursts in the street, low pressure across the neighbourhood and overflowing manholes go to Tiaki Wai. On your section, the pipes and the wastewater lateral are yours, and in Wellington City that includes any part of your lateral crossing a neighbour's land.
Most Wellington homes have no water meter, so a slow leak won't show on a dial. Damp patches in dry weather, or running water when nothing is on, are the signs. A burst, though, you'll hear.
Urgent work still needs a licence
The hour doesn't change who's allowed to do the work. Most plumbing and drainlaying is restricted, and all gasfitting is. Ask to see the licence when the tradie arrives, either the card or the PGDB app, and check the trade it covers.
If urgent work can't wait for a building consent because life, health or property is at risk, it can go ahead. Where consent would normally have been needed, the owner then applies to the council for a certificate of acceptance. Keep photos, the invoice and any certificates.
What we would do
Learn where your toby is this week, before you need it, and check the cylinder is strapped down. When something does go, shut the water or leave the gas smell first; very few jobs get worse once the supply is off. Ask how the call-out is charged before work starts, and keep stored water in the house, because after a big quake no tradie can fix the street. When you're ready, tell us the job and a Wellington tradie who does urgent work can take it on.